During the business trip to Cebu and Davao on the last week of September, we visited Profood plants in Cebu and Davao which have been processing Preda fair-trade products as a reliable partner since 1990. I, as a Korean intern researcher and student of Profairtrade participated in this trip with a producer development officer of Profairtrade, one Japanese buyer of Preda’s dried mangos and German businessman volunteer at Preda Foundation. My expectation to experience the real process of producing fairtrade products from the bottom (from grass roots farmers to factory) was fulfilled by encounters with the processing factory partner of Preda fairtrade Dried mango .
Preda partner Profood is a professional high quality drying and packing facility with technical skills and equipments to meet international quality standards and customers demands and to win customers for the small farmers and bring them into the world market place for the first time in history. I met with lots of small farmers who have been growing fair trading mangos and earning good prices from Preda and the premium payment in addition and other social benefits also.
Besides, I had a sincere realization and understanding of how Preda Fair trade affects farmers’ lives in a positive beneficial way and supplements weak points of conventional commercial trade’s mechanism even it’s still a small amount. I met and interviewed with farmers, men and women who had changed lives by the awarding of Preda fair-trade premium to farmers who worked themselves up the ladder of progress and prosperity. I experienced listening to their touching life stories and having meetings with our potential producers for the future, I saw hope from the farmer’s smiles and how Fair Trade with Preda helped them struggle and reach for a better life for their families.
by: Seunghee Lee, Korean Intern
looking for organic dried mango wholesale need approx. 10,000 if the quality and flavor are satisfactory.